This disclosure relates generally to the field of rigid flex cable assemblies and, more specifically, to a method and a product made according to the method for a room temperature low pressure contact pressure method for rigid flex cable adhesive bonding systems.
Flexible printed circuit boards are widely used in consumer and industrial appliances and in appliances for telecommunications. Such boards comprise a flexible, dielectric substrate, one or more conductors carried on at least one surface of the substrate, a coverlay electrically insulating the conductors, and one or more electrical contacts in electrical communication with the conductors and extending through and beyond the coverlay.
A majority of rigid flex cable assemblies are fabricated using a lamination process with moderate to high pressure (e.g., 50-250 psi) and relatively high temperature (e.g., 180-300° C.). When this process is employed, the cycle time for a material set-up and equipment preparation can yield a single “qualified” good or acceptable part in an 8 hour period. This methodology was developed in the early 1970's and has since continued. The standard high temperature method was developed to eliminate one process step and combine three separate assemblies (right and left rigid sections and a connecting flexible middle section). However, during fabrication, if any anomalies occur in the process (movement of layers due to pressure and lay-up geometry/tooling, or movement of layers due to plastic deformation during the cure, or introduction of de-lamination due to foreign contaminants), then the cost savings for minimizing the three sections into one assembly is lost. The undesirable alternative is a high cost remake of the assembly or a time consuming manual process requiring specialized repair fixtures.
Given the above problems with the conventional lamination process, what is needed is a system and method for forming rigid flex cable assemblies using low pressure bonding process at room temperatures that are less costly and cumbersome to produce.